Updated 9/22/15: I've gone back through and edited some more of the text for errors, more possible corrections to come. I have also taken the time to add a few more sentences in, and then some, to help clear up some details that may have been missed. Finally, I've made some of the sentence transitions a bit easier to follow, along with making it read a little better overall.
Note: The use of '_' AND italics denotes a character's personal thoughts.
Because of the nature of this story there will be spoilers, so please: read with caution.
From There and Back
Chapter 1, Part 1: The Hard Part
It's a strange feeling coming back from near death.
I don't mean like seeing that light at the end of the tunnel sort of thing, or even claiming to have visited to the other side.
I mean like fading in and out of consciousness from third degree burns extending over sixty five percent of your body, that includes your insides as well.
You wonder whether it will be the pain or the blood loss that finishes you off.
The answer: the blood loss.
Eventually the pain does begin to fade away, along with your consciousness as it's sucked away into the black abyss we commonly refer to as "death".
Things go dark for a while, you wonder if death has finally taken you.
Suddenly, you wake from the River Styx soaked with sweat, and most of all: alive.
Now comes the hard part.
The harsh lights burned my at my pupils like that of a thousand suns, I tried to shut them, acting on pure reflexes, trying to block it out only to feel a massive migraine surging forth beneath my skull. My vision blurred and I felt my ear drums pop.
I tried to squint past the pain only finding more following it. I managed an effort to suck a breath in, only to find it caught in my throat. I tried again, only causing me to gag on that same breath.
I couldn't breath. Something was wrong with me, something very wrong.
I started to panic, I felt like I was suffocating. Like someone had stuffed cotton balls into my throat. I swore I could feel them scratching at the base of my windpipe like I'd inhaled a hand-full of thorns.
In fact, my whole body felt as though it was being strangled. Like I'd been vacuum packed into a plastic bag and were slowly suffocating to death.
Acting on instinct I grabbed at my neck finding nothing but skin. I searched lower, becoming more frantic, until I found what felt like cloth.
I weakly sat up trying not to succumb to exhaustion.
I looked at my torso, my eyes still bleary and clouded. I could make out something black and ragged across it...
I pulled at it, yet it didn't budge. It was stuck.
I pulled harder and began to feel pain.
Around me I could the murmurs of people, their voices low and subdued.
I ignoring them and yanked even harder at the cloth, clenching my eyes shut from the effort.
Suddenly, there was a loud ripping sound, followed up by a small sense of relief as I no longer felt like I was taking in air through a straw.
This was short lived, however, as I was suddenly tackled from behind onto the ground, my head smashing into the floor along with my attacker on top of me.
My eyes screwed up into the back of my head from the force of the impact, I saw stars blink in out of my vision as darkness beginning to claw at the edges of my sight.
I shakily tried to get myself to my knees, only to be forced down by an onslaught of weight, pinning me against the ground.
Around me I hear could people screaming, some of them distant, others very close. Among'st the screaming, alarms sounded and the loud clambering of footsteps followed with it.
The voices of people grew more frantic as well as their movements, which hazed over as my vision tunneled more and more.
It all felt like a bad dream. Like, at any moment, I'd wake and everything would be ok.
That never happened.
Instead, there was a sudden sharp prick in my shoulder followed by a strange pulling sensation that tugged at my consciousness.
They'd injected me with something. Most likely a sedative of some sort. And powerful one at that, I quickly felt myself go numb, my muscles quickly giving in.
A few lucid thoughts ran through my mind at that point before the abyss finally took me, mostly just fuzzy memories and questions. Many questions.
To describe this situation with a single word: Confusing, would be the most understandable.
And with that I fell into unconsciousness.
I awoke again, this time I was met with that of a pale skinned man wearing a midnight black tux of all things. His skin was burned to the texture like that of wax, his skin a pale grayish tint in the low light. His lips burned and chapped. His sunken in eyes a steely gray.
Truly this man was an oddity among'st oddities.
"Did you sleep well my dear?" the man spoke softly, his deep voice penetrating it's way to my still throbbing head.
I opened my mouth to say something when I felt a gloved hand over my mouth. I tried to grab it away, but found that I'd been restrained; straps had been tied down over my every limb, even around my waist and head, to what I assumed was some sort of table beneath me. I could only look up at the burned man before me.
"Shh..." the man shushed, putting a finger to lips.
I stared back at him for a moment, my mind briefly going blank.
He took the finger away from his mouth and began to speak. "Tell me... have you ever heard the term: 'Words Can Kill'?"
I stared at him incredulously with a mixture of fear, anger, and that thing I've been experiencing a lot lately: 'confusion'.
'Who the HELL is this guy?!'
The man paused a moment, as if to savor his words, as he inhaled sharply though the hole in his head he'd most likely call a 'nose'.
"Pick your next words carefully, saying the wrong thing could mean your true death will be an even slower and more painful one." The man said, the inherent menace in his voice ratcheting a few notches.
My eyes widened at these words, and the outline of a smile appeared on the man's chapped lips.
'He was enjoying this wasn't he?'
"You're probably wondering what it is that I'm talking about don't you?" The man asked, taking his hand off my mouth, as he began to slowly pace back and forth from one edge of the table to the other.
From out of the darkness came another figure, fully outfitted in military gear and helmet to boot not to mention the small firearms that were holstered on his waist.
'Looks like we weren't alone...'
The burned man turned to the figure, his black facial expression a clear sign of his annoyance.
"What is it?" the burned man asked in a hushed whisper.
The figure leaned closer to the burned man, although I couldn't hear his voice no matter how hard I tried to listen in.
"Burn them then." The burned man replied, before taking the gloves off his hands and handing them to the figure.
With that the figure melded back into the darkness, and it was just me and the man again.
He stood for a moment, as if he were contemplating something, before turning back to me.
"Sorry about that interruption, now where were we?." the man said with a forced smile.
I narrowed my eyes at him, his untrustworthy demeanor easily evident.
The man stopped and studied my expression for a moment, deciphering my response from it. It was then that his smile curved even further upwards into an uncomfortable grin. "You don't trust me don't you?" he said, an unnerving air of gentleness to his voice.
I could feel his words send the hairs on the back of my neck standing straight, all I could do was stare back emotionless, trying to shut his voice out of my head..
A small smirk ran across the pale man's lips. "Maybe it's best you stay that way with what I'm about to tell you next…" he said, producing a medical clipboard from out of sight.
My interest was piqued, and I blinked in response to his words.
"Oh good, you're listening again. At least I won't be talking to myself now." The burned man said with delight, immediately noticing my revived interest.
'Dammit. So much for that...'
"Now how about I tell you what we had to go through to save your life." He said, reading off the clipboard.
'Saved? Since when?!' I would've nearly blurted out if I wasn't already apparently skirting death while doing so.
Barring these unsaid words, I could only continue to give the man a look of distrust.
"Hmm... it says here that, apparently, when you first woke up, you'd actually managed to tear the portion of your uniform that had fused with the skin on your torso, right off. " He said, pointing to what I assumed was my chest.
Despite every voice in head telling me otherwise, I followed the trail of his finger down toward my chest…
I was met with a perfectly normal set of breasts, albeit naked, but normal.
I shifted my gaze back to the burned man with a look of confusion, a smug grin now on his face.
"Don't worry, modesty is the least of your worries right now." He said, still wearing that disgusting grin.
I narrowed my eyes at him out of disgust. 'Great, he gets to lord over me AND have front row seats to my naked bondage act...' I thought bitterly, a twinge of annoyance running across my face.
Ignoring my less than ecstatic expressions, he began to finger through the medical report till he lingered on a page. "Here, this will explain things a little better." He said, taking a photo off of the clipboard and showing me it.
It looked to be a picture of badly burned person, their hair had been burned off, as well as their skin which looked to be a dead brown color. To top it all off; their chest had been ripped up by something, but something was odd… The exposed muscles and other musculature of their torso looked to be completely healthy and intact, the reddish color of the muscles a clear giveaway of this.
Among'st all the burns and damage, it was the face that looked the least crispy and black, it's features the still mostly recognizable.
Then I noticed it.
The distinct curve of the nose, the lower lip, and the large girlish eyes. There was no doubt.
It was my face.
This was a picture of me.
Author's Note: This story is a product of a single night of typing, and idea splurging. As such I am actively looking for feedback and corrections to help in improving the story over all.
As for the structure of the story itself: I plan to cover most the important points of the plot, while possible adding in a few original scenes, of my design, to bridge the gaps and help smooth over some rough patches.
My goal in creating this story is to give a to give more context and background into the character "Quiet" from MGSV:TPP, while also observing her interactions with Venom Snake and possibly gaining a better understanding of their relationship along the way.
Additional Thanks: Thank you to those who've taken the time to like and favorite my story, it's really nice to see people so interested in what I've written so far. An additional thanks goes out to those who've given me some pointers on how handle some of the dialogue in the story. Overall thank you all for the support so far!